George Woodcock quotes

When I die let the black rag fly raven falling from the sky. (George Woodcock)
While we can doubtless look to some wide changes in the shapes of social relationships as a result of contemporary libertarian movements, and especially to an increase in workers' involvement in decision-making at the place of work and in the development of forms of democracy more direct and more sensitive to modern conditions, it is unlikely that the general outcome will be the wholly non-governmental society of which libertarians now and in the past have dreamed. The value of anarchism is likely to remain primarily in its force as an inspiring idea, an activating vision... View quote
George Woodcock
Because anarchism is in its essence an anti-dogmatic and unstructured cluster of related attitudes, which does not depend for its existence on any enduring organization, it can flourish when circumstances are favourable and then, like a desert plant, lie dormant for seasons and even for years, waiting for the rains that will make it burgeon. Unlike an ordinary political faith, in which the church-party becomes the vehicle of the dogma, it does not need a movement to carry it forward... View quote
George Woodcock
"Whoever denies authority and fights against it is an anarchist," said Sebastien Faure. The definition is tempting in its simplicity, but simplicity is the first thing to guard against in writing a history of anarchism. Few doctrines or movements have been so confusedly understood in the public mind, and few have presented in their own variety of approach and action so much excuse for confusion. View quote
George Woodcock
Proudhon was a voluntary hermit in the political world of the nineteenth century. He sought no followers, indignantly rebuffed suggestions that he had created as system of any kind, and almost certainly rejoiced in the fact that he accepted the title anarchist in virtual isolation. View quote
George Woodcock
For out of black soul's night have stirred dawn's cold gleam, morning's singing bird. View quote
George Woodcock
It doesn't really mean a great deal of difference to a life. You live as you wish to do and if a job is oppressing, you leave it. I've done it on several occasions. View quote
George Woodcock
It even has the same phraseology as the English orders of knighthood, companions and this sort of thing. View quote
George Woodcock
I believe in that connection between freedom and the city. View quote
George Woodcock
I like to move among painters, mathematicians, psychologists, people who can tell me something. View quote
George Woodcock
In the same book he became the first man willingly to claim the title of anarchist. (George Woodcock)
Gandhi on many occasions declared himself an anarchist. View quote
George Woodcock
Anarchism is a creed inspired and ridden by paradox, and thus, while its advocates theoretically reject tradition, they are nevertheless very much concerned with the ancestry of their doctrine. View quote
George Woodcock
Orwell can only be understood as an essentially quixotic man. ... He defended, passionately and as a matter of principle, unpopular causes. View quote
George Woodcock
Gandhi was a completely unofficial man. He recognized the gulf that lay between the enjoyment of freedom and the exercise of authority. View quote
George Woodcock
I shall treat anarchism, despite its many variations: as a system of social thought, aiming at fundamental changes in the structure of society and particularly - for this is the common element uniting all its forms - at the replacement of the authoritarian state by some form of non-governmental cooperation between free individuals. View quote
George Woodcock
With an extraordinary persistence he made and kept himself one of the few free men of our time. View quote
George Woodcock
Proudhon goes on to suggest that the real laws by which society functions have nothing to do with authority; they are not imposed from above, but stem from the nature of society itself. He sees the free emergence of such laws as the goal of social endeavour. View quote
George Woodcock
There is an obvious discrepancy between the stereotype anarchist and the anarchist as we most often see him in reality; that division is due partly to semantic confusions and partly to historical misunderstandings. View quote
George Woodcock
His was the isolation of every man who seeks the truth diligently, no matter how unpleasant its implications may be to others or even to himself. View quote
George Woodcock
Much in his career remains unexplained if we forget his insistence that religion and politics were bound inextricably in the common search for Truth. (George Woodcock)
Unorthodox though he might be, Gandhi fitted into the traditional pattern of the sanyassi who practices non‑attachment in the search for Truth; he was the karma yogin, the man who perfects and purifies himself through action. View quote
George Woodcock
Anarchism, nihilism, and terrorism are often mistakenly equated, and in most dictionaries will be found at least two definitions of the anarchist. View quote
George Woodcock
The passages in which he introduces "anarchist" and "anarchy" are historically important enough to merit quotation, since they not merely show these words being used for the first time in a socially positive sense, but also contain in germ the justification by natural law which anarchists have in general applied to their arguments for a non-authoritarian society. View quote
George Woodcock
What I'm going to be given I gather is not the key to the city, which in many cities is the case. It's the freedom medal, and for me freedom has always been associated traditionally within the city. View quote
George Woodcock